In the traditional retail used vehicle sale model, a dealer acquires inventory based upon speculation of consumers' interest in their market. The process of determining consumer interest is very subjective and the dealer is only able to generate consumer interest on a specific vehicle after the dealer acquires it. The dealer may end up holding the vehicle inventory for an extended period of time, during which it is depreciating and will have to sell it for a loss.
This conventional retail model is one that imposes a significant degree of risk on the dealer, whereby a dealer acquires inventory based upon speculation of consumers' interest in their market. The process of determining consumer market interest is very subjective and the dealer is only able to generate consumer interest on a specific vehicle after the dealer acquires it. The dealer may end up holding the vehicle in inventory for an extended period of time, during which it is depreciating and may be incurring other significant expenses.
In other conventional cases, a dealer may acquire a vehicle based on the known interest of an existing customer. This minimizes risk, as the likelihood of a quick sale is substantially greater, however the dealer rarely, if ever, is able to tell the consumer the exact specifications of the vehicle they will purchase at the time the consumer expresses interest, leading to the potential of the consumer rejecting the car due to unmet expectations.